Presented by Willard Hurst as part of his course "Introduction to Modern American Legal History" at the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1978. The focus of this lecture is the central bank in the U.S., and the role Nicholas Biddle played in shaping its success. Hurst opens the lecture by discussing the impact McCullough v. Maryland (1819) had upon the existence of the bank. He then details the precedents Biddle set for its bureaucratic structure, overall reliability, a national source of business credit, and increased lending intervention into the raw materials sector. The discussion closes with an examination of the 1830 report on the bank conducted by the Ways and Means Committee, and Andrew Jackson's resistance to the bank in 1832.
